Legacy of Blood
by jackkel dragon
Summary: A "what if" retelling of the BloodDrive prologue taking place after the "Other End" of BloodCovered Repeated Fear Chapter 5. With Naomi dead and Satoshi distraught over the loss of his sister, Ayumi only has Yoshiki to turn to when she investigates the Shinozaki Estate. (Perspective changes with each chapter between Yoshiki and Ayumi.)
1. Chapter 1

"Kishinuma, we need to talk."

I paused in packing up my books and looked up to see Shinozaki looking down at me, her arms crossed.

"What is it?"

"Meet me in the courtyard."

Without another word she marched out of the classroom and joined the tide of students leaving school for the day. I sighed and resumed packing my books. I noticed I still had Satoshi's math notes from two weeks ago, and looked over at his desk. Empty.

I thought I was the one that skipped classes for weeks on end…

I picked up my bag and flipped out my cellphone to see if Satoshi had finally responded to my messages. Nothing. I'd have to pay a visit to his house at this rate. It was tough, trying to live on like what we had been through never happened. But he couldn't just give up like this.

Making my way to the courtyard, I passed by a group of students whispering to each other. I looked over and saw that they were talking about a printout of a photo where some of the faces had been blacked out. Curious, I stepped closer and realized it was the photo Morishige took of my class the night after Kisaragi Fest.

"—their faces are blacked out, because they aren't real."

"What do you mean, not real?"

"Look at it closely… it's just the same few people in different poses. Shinozaki probably used an image manipulation program or something to make it look like it's all one photo."

I realized these students were kids from my class. Or at least they were now. When we came back from Heavenly Host, those who died there seemed to have never existed in the real world. And so a number of my classmates were replaced by students who had been in other homerooms, as if it were always this way.

I stepped in and grabbed the photo from them. "Show and tell is over." I ripped the photo apart and crumpled it into a ball. "Now why don't you guys go do something more productive?"

The students gave me a strange look and quickly walked away before starting to whisper to each other again. I tossed the remains of the photo in a nearby garbage can and continued on my way to the courtyard.

Looking around the courtyard, I found Shinozaki sitting on a bench under the shade of a tree. I took a seat next to her and dropped my bag to the ground to get her attention. She jumped a little, then calmed down when she realized it was me.

"What took you?"

I scowled. "Those new kids in our class were making fun of the photo you printed out last week."

Shinozaki sighed. "It's not like we can blame them. As far as they know, our friends never existed."

"That doesn't give them the right to be jerks about it."

Shinozaki shook her head and pulled out her phone. "Any word from Mochida? He hasn't responded to me at all."

"Nothing. I'm thinking of heading over to his place later to see how he's holding up. Losing his sister and Nakashima must have really gotten to him."

Shinozaki held her phone out to me and I looked at the screen. It was open to a blog, Naho's Nods to the Netherworld.

"Wait… didn't Naho die in Heavenly Host?"

Nodding, Shinozaki withdrew her phone. "Exactly. I think there's more to this curse than we've learned so far. I've also found a lead for finding out more about what happened in Heavenly Host."

"Really? What did you find?"

Shinozaki slid away from me a bit. "Err, Kishinuma, you're getting a little close."

I noticed that I had been leaning in close to Shinozaki and pulled back, looking out at the students leaving school to play off what just happened. "What's this lead of yours?"

"I found the address of the Shinozaki estate in Kishi, where Sachiko and Yoshie once lived."

I turned and looked at Shinozaki. "How does that help us?"

"Maybe it didn't cross your delinquent mind, but the home of the people behind the curse might be a good place to start!"

Sighing, I rubbed my forehead and looked away. "Alright, if you say so. When are we going to check this place out?"

Shinozaki slumped her shoulders. "Well, I was waiting for Mochida to show up at school so he could come, but I can't keep putting it off so I guess I might as well go tonight."

"Did the thought of bringing me never cross your mind?"

Shinozaki glared at me and I frowned. After everything that happened, was she really planning on going to someplace dangerous alone?

"Considering how long it took you to figure out how the closed spaces in Heavenly Host worked, I think it might not be so bad to leave you behind." Shinozaki turned her head away and started whispering. "But since I need someone to back me up and Mochida isn't here, I guess I'll settle for you."

Gee, thanks Shinozaki. I feel so great being the second choice.

"So are we heading out now, or should I go change?"

Shinozaki stood up. "We'd better go now. I don't want to waste any more time waiting."

I stood up and picked up my bag. "Lead the way."

We went to the nearest train station leaving for Kishi and sat through the thirty minute trip into the countryside. Shinozaki didn't say anything to me once we were on the train, and I doubt it was the other two passengers in our car stopping her. I passed the time by counting things we passed as best I could, but eventually the speed of the train made it too difficult to keep track and I started to get bored.

Just as I was about to pester Shinozaki for an update the train stopped at Kishi station and we got off. We were out in the middle of nowhere, with only a few farm houses dotting the long road across the countryside.

"We should probably ask the locals for some directions…" Shinozaki muttered while messing with her phone. "My GPS isn't getting any info for this area."

"First sign we aren't welcome. We're on the right track." I mused. Shinozaki shot me a glare but didn't respond.

We walked over to the nearest of the farmhouses and I knocked on the door. While we waited, I tried to peek through the windows but they all looked clouded over and were impossible to see through. I started to wonder if anyone actually lived here.

After a few minutes Shinozaki started fidgeting. "Maybe we should try a different place."

I shrugged and we walked off. I started getting the feeling we were being watched.

Further down the road we found another house, this one seeming a bit more inviting. When we knocked on the door an old woman came to the front and slid open the door.

"Well hello there, young ones. What brings two students so far out here?"

Shinozaki stepped forward and put on a smile that seemed forced. "We're here for a school project. We needed to investigate a place near here, but we seem to be lost. Would you mind telling us where to look for this address?"

The old woman stepped forward and looked at the address Shinozaki had printed out. She studied it for a moment before dropping it and gasping in fear. She started shaking nervously.

"What business do you have with the Shinozaki estate?"

I stepped forward and put a hand on the sliding door so the woman couldn't shut us out. "We need to take a look around. Do you know where it is?"

The woman pointed down the road. "It stood on the mountain, but no one goes there anymore. And I'd appreciate it if you left now!"

The woman slammed the door shut, and I had to pull out my hand quickly to avoid losing it. I scowled at the woman, but she proceeded to ignore me while she locked the door.

I turned around and marched away, grabbing Shinozaki by the arm as I did so. "Let's go. We're clearly not welcome here."

Shinozaki shivered a bit once we got back to the road. "This place feels wrong…"

I nodded, looking over my shoulder to see the sun setting. "Should we head back for the day? Maybe we can get Satoshi to come with us tomorrow when we explore the mountain."

"Seriously, Kishinuma?" Shinozaki frowned up at me. "We took a thirty minute train ride to get here. We might as well make the most of our time here."

I sighed. "Let's get going then. It's going to be dark before we get there if we don't hurry."

We walked down the long, lonely road until it reached a hill and began to wind through a forest. Shinozaki stopped to check her phone, muttered something under her breath, and we continued up the hill.

Partway up the mountain road we found a truck parked with its lights on. Out of curiosity I tried to open the door, but it was locked up tight. Shinozaki gave me a disapproving glance when I turned to face her.

"Did you really think someone would leave their truck here unlocked?"

I shrugged. "It's a mountain road at sunset. Who would leave it here unattended to begin with?"

Shinozaki didn't have an answer for that, so she just kept following the road. I fell into step behind her. I pulled out my phone to check for messages, but apparently this place didn't have any coverage and the phone couldn't read messages without a connection.

"I'd prefer it if you didn't walk directly behind me." Shinozaki muttered.

I put my phone away and looked up to see Shinozaki frowning at me. "What's the problem?"

Shinozaki indicated a spot next to her. "I don't want you getting… distracted."

I sighed. This was getting ridiculous.

"Is this really something you're worried about? It's about to be dark in a creepy forest, and having me follow you is a problem?"

"Well, you seem to have a fixation with my 'posterior' that I'd rather not encourage!"

I rubbed my head and sighed again. This was about when I told her about the blood on her skirt in Heavenly Host, wasn't it?

"Fine, I'll walk next to you. Let's get a move on already."

Walking next to Shinozaki to keep her from complaining, I noticed something off the side of the road a bit farther up. As we got closer, it turned out to be the truck from before. I'd have passed it off as a coincidence, but it had the same model, the same dents, and the lights were still on. Testing the doors proved it was still locked too.

"Well, we're definitely not welcome here." I mused. "We didn't go any direction but up, right?"

Shinozaki stared at the truck. "There weren't any forks in the road… we couldn't have doubled back or anything."

I noticed it was much darker than before and I checked my phone. "Does it feel like we've been walking six hours to you?"

"What?!" Shinozaki spun to face me, whipping out her phone as she did so. "That can't be right. It couldn't have been more than an hour…"

I showed her my phone clock. "That's what I thought too, but my phone says it's past 10."

"M-mine too…" Shinozaki looked up at me with frightened eyes.

I looked at the truck and up the mountain path. "Guess we're getting close. Whether we're ready or not."


	2. Chapter 2

We followed the trail up the mountainside for what felt like hours. It got darker and darker as we climbed, beyond what I thought was possible. I was about to tell Kishinuma that we should turn back when I saw a dark glimmer in a clearing up ahead.

I ran the rest of the way up the hill, letting Kishinuma lag behind at his own pace. I froze before the shadowy structure. Reaching out slowly, I touched the door. It was solid.

"Slow down, Shinozaki." Kishinuma jogged up to where I was standing. "What the hell?…"

Before us stood a building that shouldn't exist. I could see that the grass beneath the shadowy estate was undisturbed, as if there wasn't a building standing on that land. A familiar name was etched onto the door plate.

"We're here."

I reached for the door handle and pushed it open. It was solid in my hand and moved without resistance. Kishinuma grabbed me by the shoulder and held me back.

"Are you sure we should be doing this?"

I groaned. "We've come this far. We can't turn back now."

Kishinuma sighed and let go of my shoulder. We walked into the estate slowly, and I felt a dark presence settling over the building. I tried the doors, but some were locked and others were sealed from the other side. The only way to keep exploring would be to head up the stairs in the corner of the entrance.

I walked past the shoe rack and tried to ignore the dead rats in each hole. Before I reached the stairs, I saw a mirror on the wall. For a brief moment I thought I saw Yoshie instead of myself in the reflection. But then Kishinuma walked into view and the vision faded to show the two of us standing next to each other.

"We shouldn't get close to that mirror" I muttered. "There might be residual memories sealed inside it…"

I led the way up the stairs, holding on to the railing to keep from losing my balance on the rotting wood steps. There were a few rooms in the upper hallway, but only one of the doors opened when I pressed on it.

Inside, we found a number of overturned pieces of furniture. Kishinuma moved to one side of the room and I began to search the other. In a mostly clear part of the room I blew some dust out of a crack in the floor to find what looked to be a pentagram of some sort. Looking around that area revealed a few bowls, dried blood, spent candles, and animal skeletons.

I touched one of the candles and suddenly felt like I was seeing everything through someone else's eyes…

"_—mom, MOM!"_

_I looked up from my desk and turned to see what was happening. Did little Sachi hurt herself on something?…_

_My little darling ran into my room with tears in her eyes. "Mom, daddy's not breathing!"_

"Ahh!"

I gasped for breath as I felt a hand grab my shoulder. I looked up to see it was just Kishinuma.

"What's wrong, Shinozaki?!"

I withdrew my hand from the candle. "There's bad memories in this place. We should keep looking."

I stood up and looked over to Kishinuma's side of the room.

"Did you find anything?"

Kishinuma shook his head. "Just a paper curtain with some drawings on it. Normal little kid stuff, not like the stuff we saw in Heavenly Host."

"This must have been Sachiko's room…" I looked down at the pentagram in the floor. I frowned and headed for the door.

"Hold on, Shinozaki…"

I felt Kishinuma's hand touching my butt and I spun around to glare at him. "Are you for real, Kishinuma?!"

He held up a dusty key. "I thought you'd like this out of your skirt, since it might be more useful that way."

My cheeks flushed with embarrassment for having assumed the worst of Kishinuma automatically. I snatched the key from him and spun around, hoping he didn't see my red cheeks. I started testing the key on each of the doors until one clicked and opened.

As we walked into the room, I gaped at the number of family photos lining the walls. Yoshie and Sachiko lived over fifty years ago, but they had more photos on the walls of this room than I usually had on my phone after a year. Each one appeared to be some happy family memory, and they all invariably had Sachiko as the focus on the shot.

"Yoshie must have really loved Sachiko dearly…" I mused, walking past some of the photos. A few of them stood out, as a man's face had been crossed out with a ballpoint pen.

"That looks like a familiar problem." Yoshiki muttered, staring at one of the photos of the man. "Willing to bet he died and something happened to his memory?"

"Kishinuma!" I shouted, angry at him for making light of this whole thing. I sighed and touched one of the photos to wipe some of the dust off…

"_Seiji!" I sobbed into my dearest's unmoving chest."Why does this have to happen to us?…"_

_I felt a tug on my blouse and looked down into the tearstained face of poor Sachi. "Is daddy… dead?"_

_I couldn't even open my mouth to answer her. She shouldn't have to be exposed to our curse this soon in life… I let go of my dead husband and drew Sachi into my arms, hoping to shield her from the pain of losing her father…_

"Shinozaki!"

I gasped and let go of the photo, nearly falling backward until someone caught me in his arms. I looked up to see Kishinuma holding me.

"Are you okay? You were spacing out again…"

I caught my breath and rebalanced myself so Kishinuma wouldn't have to hold me up. "Sorry… it was another memory…"

He nodded slowly, probably not really understanding what I just saw. He pointed at a large safe nearby. "I found a way to open the safe, if you'd like to take a look."

I smirked at him. "Did you pick the lock or something?"

Kishinuma sighed and shook his head. "It's a combination lock." He pointed at a box with a small kimono lying on top of it. "I noticed that Yoshie seemed to be obsessed with Sachiko, so I thought the number might be related to her. Sachiko's kimono here looked like one for that 7-year old children's ceremony, so I tried seven. Worked like a charm."

I ignored Kishinuma's bad pun since he probably didn't intend it anyway. I pulled the safe open and looked inside to see a small tunnel.

Kishinuma and I looked at each other. I think even he felt the darkness emanating from within. Surely the answers we were looking for were inside. Any normal person would have suggested turning back, but we both knew better. This was our only chance. If we left now, we'd regret that decision forever.

Without a word between us, we ducked down and crawled into the tunnel. There was a set of stairs at the back, and we were able to stand normally once we reached the room at the end of the tunnel. I pulled a candle out of my bag and lit it so we could see what was around us.

With the light of the candle, we could see a room that looked like it belonged to a mad scientist. Papers and strange materials were strewn everywhere. I moved toward a desk with a chart on it and looked at it closely, as if I had been drawn to it.

I realized this was a genealogy. However, it was tracked by the names of women rather than men. Only one male name was visible, penciled in next to a crossed-out name that must have been the original place of the name. I picked up the chart to read the name more closely…

"_Seiji Shinozaki…" I muttered the name as I wrote it onto the paper doll. Sachi was writing her own name onto a similar doll. I placed mine and Seiji's in the pentagram, Seiji's in the center._

_After Sachi placed her doll next to Seiji's, I pulled out a photo of Seiji and placed it on top of his paper doll._

_I picked up the ceremonial knife and cut my palm and squeezed some of my blood onto the offering dish. I turned and regarded Sachi with a heavy heart._

"_This will hurt a bit, Sachi. But we need to do it to bring daddy back."_

"Seiji…"

"Huh?"

Kishinuma was looking over my shoulder at the chart. I pointed out the name. "Seiji Shinozaki was Yoshie's husband. But he wasn't originally a Shinozaki… he was adopted into the family and took their name so Yoshie could keep hers."

He nodded at my explanation and kept looking at the chart. "Looks like most of the Shinozaki family did that, according to this genealogy."

I frowned and thought about the memories I'd been seeing since coming inside the Shinozaki estate. "It looks like every man to marry into the Shinozaki family died not long after a child was born… That must have been difficult for the Shinozaki women, to lose someone so close to them no matter what they did…"

"What's this here?" Kishinuma pointed at the top of the chart. I read the characters slowly to make sure I got them right.

"It says 'the Gifted Bloodline.' I wonder what that means?"

I was about to put the chart down when I recognized a familiar name. My eyes widened and I looked up at Kishinuma. "My dad's on this genealogy. Look!"

I pointed at a branch of the family where my grandparents and dad were. Kishinuma frowned. "So you're related to Sachiko and Yoshie?"

"I thought it was weird enough we had the same last name…" I re-read the names on the chart. "But this really is my dad on here. I knew my grandfather died not long after he was born, but I didn't think it was because of some family curse…"

"Maybe the curse doesn't affect you. It seems like all the other children were girls."

"Maybe…" I tossed the chart aside, not wanting to look at it anymore.

_Book of Shadows…_

I suddenly felt drawn to the one unadorned wall in the room. I handed Kishinuma my candle and started pulling off boards. They came off quickly, having rotted over the years.

"What are you doing?!"

"There's something behind here!" I shouted, continuing to pull boards away until I saw the room behind the wall.

Standing on an altar with lit candles surrounding it was a book with a black cover.

"The Book of Shadows…"

"The what?"

I picked up the book and turned to Kishinuma. "During the witch hunts in Europe, most of the real sorcerers went into hiding, which ironically meant most of them survived. But since they couldn't use their black magic without being discovered, they created a book to hold the collected knowledge of dark magic and sorcery."

Kishinuma frowned at me. "Are you sure we should be touching it? It sounds dangerous…"

I ignored him and started flipping through the book. It didn't take long to find what I was looking for.

"'Land of Corpses!' This is the spell that was used to create Heavenly Host!"

Kishinuma stepped closer. "Really?!"

I flipped a few more pages and found something even more remarkable. "'Revival of Corpses!' This spell… can bring back the dead!"

"That's possible?!"

I turned the book around to show him. "It's real! And it looks like Yoshie wrote down the pronunciation of the foreign words in the margins… we can bring back our friends!"

I immediately ran past Kishinuma and began searching the main room for the materials I'd need. Everything was there, even if the room was disorganized. I cleared a space on the floor and beckoned Kishinuma over.

"Are you sure we should be doing this, Shinozaki?"

I stood up and grabbed him by the collar. "You may be a coward, but I'm not going to turn down a chance to bring everyone back alive!"

His face hardened and he put the candle down. "Fine. What do we need to do?"

We carved the pentagram into the floor as the spell instructed and placed out the materials. Then we wrote our names on paper dolls and arranged them around the center. I pulled out the group photo from Kisaragi Fest and wondered which one to save first.

"How about we revive Yuka first?"

Kishinuma shrugged. "Sounds good to me."

I tore off Yuka's part of the photo and wrote out her name on a paper doll and put them in the center of the pentagram. Then I began chanting the words to the spell from the book while Kishinuma watched.

The spell took a long time to cast, and I had to take a deep breath every few words to keep going. After what felt like an hour, I finished the incantation and pushed the book aside.

"So now what?" Kishinuma twirled the ceremonial knife in his hands out of boredom.

"I think something will happen soon if we did it right…"

Just as I was finishing that sentence I heard footsteps coming from upstairs. We both looked up and waited for the presence to come down the steps to the secret room.

"Biiiiiig broooooother…"

Something felt… off. Yuka's voice sounded muffled. The girl came into view on the steps and I gasped in fright.

She had no face.

I looked down at the photo we had used and it was a perfect match. The blackened face in the photograph transferred over to the false Yuka we had created.

Suddenly, Yuka screamed out and tumbled down the last few steps, cracking her head on the floor and bleeding out. Kishinuma and I just stood there, not sure what to do.

Suddenly, the photo and Yuka's paper doll ignited and burned to ashes within in moments. I was about to kick away one of the candles in frustration when two screwdrivers suddenly buried themselves in my thighs.

I squealed out in pain, and Kishinuma spun around and ran over to me. "Shinozaki!"

"_Yoshie!"_

I fell to my knees and started crying. Pain coursed through my legs. Kishinuma knelt next to me and pulled the screwdrivers out, causing another wave of pain.

Suddenly my arms felt like they were on fire as two buzzsaws flew from nowhere to lodge themselves into my arms. I screamed out in pain and Kishinuma's eyes widened when he saw the blades.

"Hold on, Shinozaki!…"

Kishinuma stood up and kicked our paper dolls out of the pentagram. I noticed mine was a bit singed, but it started to go out after it was out of the circle. Then Kishinuma knelt next to me again and yanked one of the buzzsaws out of my arm.

"Ow!…"

"Sorry…" Kishinuma reached for the other one, but suddenly it started spinning, digging into the bone in my arm.

"Yeaaaaaaaaaaaagh!" I cried out. "I don't wanna die!"

Kishinuma grit his teeth and grabbed the buzzsaw with both hands. He growled as it cut into his hands, but eventually managed to pull it out and fling it across the room.

I started sobbing, collapsing into Kishinuma's arms. Was that a punishment for trying to raise the dead?…

_I smiled as I saw the face of my beloved walk through the door. "Seiji!"_

_I ran to embrace him, kissing him on the cheeks as I caressed him._

"_I'm so sorry we had to do this… but now we'll never be apart again… I won't let some curse take you from me twice…"_

"_Yoshie…"_

_I looked into Seiji's face. Something was wrong._

"_Seiji?"_

_Without warning, Seiji's head exploded into a waterfall of blood. I felt his cranial fluids dripping down my face as the rest of his body slumped over._

"_No… no…"_

"Shinozaki, it's alright…" I felt Kishinuma stroking my hair and rubbing my back. "We're safe now…"

I looked up into Kishinuma's face. Maybe it was just my adrenaline making me see things, but I felt like I could see the love and devotion in his eyes.

"Yoshiki…"

He smiled at me, but something seemed off. His face was flushed bright red. No… dark red…

Suddenly, Yoshiki's head exploded into a deluge of blood. I could feel his brain matter sliding down my face as he slumped over on top of me.

"No… no…"

"_NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO!"_


End file.
